January 12, 2015 Little Shark River. 25◦19'.784N 081◦08'.067W

Today was a very uneventful day in very secluded waters. We made our way from Indian point to Little Shark river without ever touching bottom...Yippee! The area we are in is called the Everglades and there is little if any civilization out here. There are however, a million mosquitoes, several million no-see-ums and they all like my flesh.  This particular anchorage is listed in several references Jim and I use to navigate, so it did not come as a surprise when we entered the river and saw another boat anchored there. Henry and Diane are on a boat called "De De" which they built themselves. We have met them several times during this loop, in Grand Haven initially and then at Turner Marine and again in Dunedin.  They are a very nice couple and Diane is very much like me, in the sense that; when they say they built it, Diane was every bit the partner in the project of fiberglassing, Electrical and finishing touches. The boat is a 28 foot long bluejacket and they should be very proud of their handiwork. What is most impressive is that they had such confidence in their work, that when they finished the project they immediately set off on "the loop"

We had a lovely evening with a short visit to Henry and Diane's boat. We are also spending  a large part of our evening trying to identify the large fish or mammal that is swimming around the boat. We can hear is snorting every few minutes, we see it just breaking the surface of the water on several occasions, we know it is very large; say 12 to 14 feet long at least, but can never see enough of it to determine if it is a dolphin, a manatee or an alligator. We'll keep looking!  Good night all. 

Our back yard in Little shark river